text: Cell–cell adhesion complexes are essential for the formation of complex animal tissues. β-catenin is part of a protein complex that form adherens junctions. These cell–cell adhesion complexes are necessary for the creation and maintenance of epithelial cell layers and barriers. As a component of the complex, β-catenin can regulate cell growth and adhesion between cells. It may also be responsible for transmitting the contact inhibition signal that causes cells to stop dividing once the epithelial sheet is complete. The E-cadherin – β-catenin – α-catenin complex is weakly associated to actin filaments. Adherens junctions require significant protein dynamics in order to link to the actin cytoskeleton,
  thereby enabling mechanotransduction.
  An important component of the adherens junctions are the cadherin proteins. Cadherins form the cell–cell junctional structures known as adherens junctions as well as the desmosomes. Cadherins are capable of homophilic interactions through their extracellular cadherin repeat domains, in a Ca2+-dependent manner; this can hold adjacent epithelial cells together. While in the adherens junction, cadherins recruit β-catenin molecules onto their intracellular regions. β-catenin, in turn, associates with another highly dynamic protein, α-catenin, which directly binds to the actin filaments. This is possible because α-catenin and cadherins bind at distinct sites to β-catenin. The β-catenin – α-catenin complex can thus physically form a bridge between cadherins and the actin cytoskeleton. Organization of the cadherin–catenin complex is additionally regulated through phosphorylation and endocytosis of its components.